In India, cereal marketers are trying to change traditional breakfast norms by increasing the level of penetration and frequency of purchase. Players are banking heavily on urban consumption which has grown on the back of health offerings like oats and muesli.

The breakfast cereal market is growing with more than 17% CAGR from the past five years. The market is divided into two categories viz. hot cereals and ready-to-eat (RTE) cereals. Hot cereals include products like oats, oat bran, wheat bran and porridge whereas ready-to-eat (RTE) cold cereals include cornflakes, wheat flakes, choco flakes, muesli, etc. Indian consumers prefer hot breakfasts; hence hot cereal category is growing at a much faster pace than ready to eat cereals.

Manufacturers have a range of brands appealing separately to kids and adults. Kellogg's India, Bagrrys, Marico and PepsiCo are the leading players operating in this market. Owing to urbanization and increased income of people, southern and western markets are registering good amount of sales. Cornflakes, as a product type, dominate the market with highest market share whereas other cereals like oats and muesli add up for the rest.

Oats and muesli are growing much faster than cornflakes as people are getting more health conscious and venturing into even healthier foods. The primary consumers for breakfast cereals continued to be urban consumers as they prefer a fast arrangement for breakfast due to their hectic lifestyles. To some extent, the market is self-propelled, thanks to higher spending power and growing health awareness. The widespread communications on health, especially on the rising incidence of cardiovascular diseases, diabetes and obesity in Indians have made them more health conscious than before. Not only are influencers such as doctors, nutritionists and the media passing on these messages, the companies assiduously themselves are playing the health card in almost all of their communications.